In the old days web development was owned by everyone and no one. I say everyone because anyone with access to a server and a little knowledge of html code or some WYSIWYG program could put up a website (or webpage in the really olden days). Websites were built by techies or the one very keen person in the department who thought it would be a good thing to do. So, by default these people 'owned the web'. I say no one because although these people 'owned' these websites there was no real ownership of the good stuff - content - on the websites. No structures for regular maintenance or accountability in terms of accuracy. These days things are changing.
For example, the main University website is owned by one group but ownership of sections of content is spread amongst different groups. The owners of the whole site are responsible for overall content cohesion, 'look and feel' and information architecture. Content owners are responsible for the content in their section and sometimes the fine detail IA that holds their content together. The process is far from flawless and even further from complete but it is on the way. Other large sites in the University are not so close.
It was with great interest then that I read James Robertson's KM briefing for this month: Who should own the intranet?
One of the first challenges when establishing an intranet is to determine who should have overall ownership of the site, and where the intranet team should be located.
While the responsibility for driving the intranet must be given to a single business area, this group must be located within the right area of the organisation if the intranet is to succeed.
James does not offer an answer to this question (because there isn't one) but he does look at different possible groups and offers guidelines for how ownership should be approached.
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